Automobile storm curtain



.Patented July 4, 1922,

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A. F. RANDALL. AUTOMOBILE STORM cuRTAiN.

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AUTOMOBILE STORM Guarana.

Application led January 2G, 1921.

i To @ZZ whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, ARTHUR F. RANDALL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Shreveport, in the parish of Caddo and State of Louisiana, have invented a new and useful Automobile Storm Curtain, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to automobile storm curtains and has as one of its objects to simplify and improve generally the construction set forth in my co-pending application entitled Automobile storm curtain, filed December 10, 1920, Serial No. 429,744.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a'storm curtain which may be quickly set up and upon releasing the same from the sides of the automobile will be automatically folded in compact form and then swung to a position where it will be out of the way of the occupants of the automobile.

With the preceding and other objects and advantages in mind, the invention consists in the novel combination of elements, construction and arrangement of parts and operations to be more fully described in the following disclosure, claimed and illustrat'ed in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevation 0f an automobile equipped with my improved storm curtain;

Figure 2 is an enlarged side elevation of the storm curtain in operative position, parts being broken away;

Figure 3 is a sectional detail view of parts of theI invention;

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional view throng the automobile, one of the storm curtains being in operative position, while the other storm curtain is shown in inoperative position;

igure 5 is a detailed perspective of one of the swinging rods and its mounting embodied in the invention;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating one of the spring rotated drums for folding the curtain after same has been released from the side of the automobile;

Figure 7 is a top plan view illustrating the curtains being folded;

Figure 8 is a perspective of a modified structure; and

Figure 9 is a detail view of the same, partly in cross section and partly in elevation.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 4, 1922. serial No. 440,022.

Figure 10 is an elevational cross sectional view of the means for attaching the upper end of the-casing to the top side bar. Referring in detail to the drawings wherein similar characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the numeral 5 designates an automobile or motor vehicle in its entirety. Mounted in a bearing 6 on the rear of one of the seats of the automobile is a swinging bracket 7. This swinging bracket 7 is identical to the bracket employed in the construction set forth in my co-pending application above mentioned and a detail description of this bracket is therefore deemed unnecessary.

The numeral 8 designates an elongated or rectangular casing which carries, at its lower end, a perforated ear 9` slidably engaged with the bracket 7. Mounted upon the upper end of the casing 8 is a plate 10 having a recessll in its upper face. A cylinder or barrel isv indicated` at 12 and is provided with a right angularly disposed extension 13 terminating in a resilient head 14, the latter being engageable with a resilient socket 15 carried by one of the longitudinal side bars 16 of the automobile top. This cylinder or barrel 12 is formed with a downwardly eX- tending lug 17 at its lower end engaged in the recess 11. A. swivel pin 18 is connected with the upper end of the casing 8 and projects through the cylinder or barrel 12. Encircling this pin 18 is a coil spring 19 which normally holds the cylinder 12 against the plate 10.

The side curtain, designated in its entirety at 20, consists of a plurality of panels or strips 21 secured together at their longitudinal edges so as to form plaits 22 at these longitudinal edges. One of the sections 21 is secured to the rear longitudinal edge of the casing 8.

A relatively short curtain adapted to eX- tend forwardly of the casing 8 and identical to the curtain 2O is designated at 28, this latter curtain being` adapted to be folded, as shown in Figure 7 of the drawing, when the curtains are not in use. In order to automatically fold the curtain 20 against the casing 8, a pair of drums 24 is journaled in the casing. As shown in Figure 4, each of the drums 24 is mounted on a shaft 25. Encircling this shaft 25 and having one end attached thereto and its opposite end attached to the drum 24 is a coil spring 26,

which, after being placed under tension by rotation of the drum in one direction, is rotated in the reverse direction.

Wound about the drums 24k are cables or other flexible elements 27 which pass through the casing and are interlaced through openings 28 in the edges of the curtain sections 21. ACarried by the outer ends of these flexible elements 27 are eyes 29 adapted to engage pins 30 extending laterally from the sides of the automobile and its topv to hold the curtain sections in extended position. Upon disengaging the eyes 29 from the pins 30, it will be obvious that the drums 24C will rotate to wind the flexible elements 27 there'- around and thereby fold the curtain sections upon each other against one side of the casing 8. After the curtains have been thus folded, the casing 8 is slid on the bracket 7 to the position shown at the right of Figure 4 and allowed to depend downwardly behind the forward seat of the automobile.

In Figures 8 and 9 a modified structure is shown. In this instance, ashort shaft 31 extends transversely across the casing 8 and has one end swivelly connected thereto. Its opposite end projects from the casing and connected thereto by way of a knuckle joint.

32 is a rod 33 which extends through openings 34C in the'. curtain sections 21. As illustrated in Figure k8 the rod 33-extends horizontally at right angles to the casing when the curtain isin extended position. However, when the curtain is not in use, the cur- Vflexible elements tain sections are slid rearwardly on the rod 33 which causes the same to fold upon themselves and lie against the casing 8. The rod 33 is then rotated a half turn to dispose the hinged joint 32 at right angles to the position shown in Figure 9 and then swung downwardly to the dotted line position shown in this figure.

yIt is to be understoodthat the forms of my invention herein shown and described are to be taken as preferred examples of the same, and that various changes inthe shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope ofthe subjoined claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure and protect by Letters Patent of the United States, is: Y Y Y An automobile storm curtain comprising a bracket to be mounted on an automobile, a rectangular casing carried by the bracket and capable of being arranged in a vertical position at one side of the automobile to constitute apart of the curtain, a curtain section carried by the casing, spring-rotated drums journaled in the casing, and having slidable connection with the longitudinal edges of the curtain sect-ion and adapted to be wound about the Ydrums to fold the curtain against the casing.

ARTHUR F. RANDALL. A 

